Existing law, the Safe Place to Learn Act, requires the State Department of Education to assess whether local educational agencies have adopted a policy that prohibits discrimination, harassment, intimidation, and bullying based on specified characteristics. Existing law also authorizes a school to suspend or recommend for expulsion a pupil who has engaged in an act of bullying.

This bill, the Nigel Hardy Act, would require a school to offer counseling services to every pupil who attends the school who has been the victim of an act of bullying or who has been found to have engaged in an act of bullying, as provided. The bill would also require a school district to provide training on the topic of bullying to every teacher employed by the school district and would require every teacher employed by the school district on or after July 1, 2015, to complete the training. By imposing additional requirements on schools and school districts, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to these statutory provisions